I’ll admit that having an MBA and sitting through all those boring don’t-yawn-don’t-yawn-don’t-yawn strategic planning meetings has been valuable in terms of helping my clients view getting in shape from a big-picture perspective. Who knew?

Beyond learning how to master the secret one-nostril-inhalation yawn method, I picked up some business learnin’ that can help you ditch the gut and pump up for the gun show or whatever.

So this article is all about setting fitness goals and how to achieve them, because an adage of business is “What gets measured gets done.”

The desire to look good

Vanity is not a bad thing. When used properly, a little bit of vanity can be good for your health. For example, a number of people have been prompted to quit smoking not because it destroys them on the inside and makes them smell like the inside of a Cold War-era Russian submarine, but because it causes wrinkles.

Some people take it too far, like bodybuilders who focus solely on achieving what they perceive as an aesthetic ideal, health and physical performance be damned. So feel free to embrace a bit of vanity as a goal. Just don’t go overboard.

I think this is a good approach, and the three motivations are mutually inclusive. So think about what you want to achieve in terms of vanity, health and physical performance. Get this idea in your mind. Write it down, even. These are your "outcome goals.”

What are outcome goals?

Also known as "long-term goals," outcome goals can be motivating. They keep you reaching toward something. Personally, I believe in aiming high so that if you only achieve 80% of your goal, you still feel like you’ve done something awesome. I also like pushing outcome goals. This means that if you do fully achieve them, you don’t just focus on sustaining it, but instead reach for a higher level.

Process goals

Also known as “short-term goals," process goals are things like a weekly workout schedule. The outcome is what determines the process. Weightlifting processes fulfill bulking-up outcomes, and caloric-restriction processes fulfill slimming-down outcomes. For example, you can create a list of exercises that you plan to achieve this week. It can be three 45-minute weightlifting sessions, a couple of five-mile runs or 20-mile bike rides, an hour of karate, or 30 minutes in the pool.

To achieve the desired outcomes, you must go through the appropriate process. You must tick off these process goals each week, week after week, month after month.

And these don’t just apply to exercise. Lean and muscular bodies are made in the kitchen, so if you’re struggling with junk and fast food intake, you can start writing down process goals that include things like lowering the number of treats and times you eat out each week, gradually decreasing alcohol intake and gradually increasing healthier options such as lean sources of protein and fruit and vegetable consumption. Putting numbers on all this stuff helps you stick to it and achieve the planned outcomes.

And the process goals should be progressive.

How incremental changes add up

I’m a big believer in the power of increments. For example, I spend a lot of time exercising, and I go hard, too. This was not always the case. When I started running, just a few miles would make me hurt from the eyebrows down, so I gradually pushed my distances in small increments over time to the point where I run about 30 or so miles a week. I also spend lots of time lifting weights now — far more than what I did when I started. I also do it at a much higher intensity.

It’s OK to start small and slow, as long as you focus on incrementally pushing the following:

-The length of time spend exercising.-The frequency with which you exercise.-The intensity at which you exercise.-The difficulty level of the types of exercises you engage in.

Just to give you an idea of the power of increments, consider this: If you start off with just 30 minutes of exercise a week, and then add only five minutes of exercise each week, in a year you will be up to exercising almost five hours a week, and that’s awesome.